U.S. Air Base = “God’s House”

A couple of weeks ago, someone forwarded me this press release out of the U.S. military’s Bagram Media Center in Afghanistan. It caught my eye only because it’s not a typical headline for an official U.S. military press release: "Revival Rocks God’s House."

Here’s a bit of the release, which talks about a three-day Christian "revival service" held last month at the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan:

The theme for the services, “Having faith that pleases God,” was taken from the concept pointed out in Hebrews 11:6 of the King James version of the Holy Bible, which reads, “… without faith, it is impossible to please God.”

“Faith is what you believe in and it affects everything around you,” said Chap. (Maj.) Terry Simmons, Enduring Faith Chapel Gospel services chaplain. “I believe God had great impact on our BAF community. I believe God has more plans to influence and move through us in BAF and Afghanistan.”

The services were open to all members of the BAF community to come and worship. Each night, two ministers from the gospel service brought forth a message of hope, faith and encouragement. The gospel choir and dance team also contributed to the services through various performances, demonstrating their faith.

“In order to obtain faith, we have to be obedient to God’s commandments that are given to us,” said Sgt. 1st Class Kadesha Thompson, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade. “[We as Christians cannot] allow our faith to be wavered by anything.”

“Faith is developed by the word of God, by trials and past experiences,” Simmons said. “Faith is only developed in your relationship with God.”

No one, least of all me, would question service members’ right to worship freely. I’m just curious what DANGER ROOM readers think of the U.S. military issuing a press release about a religious service in which "the Spirit of God moves in and grips men and women in such a way that suddenly the community becomes God-conscious."

UPDATE: Noah here. Xeni sends along this NPR report, from 2005, on evangelicals in the military. It turns out that 40 percent of active duty personnel — and 60 percent of chaplains — are evangelical, compared to only 14 percent of the U.S. population. Interesting.

Also, here’s a story I filed from Iraq, on Jewish soldiers, for the Forward.